> I haven't enjoyed any of the other M John Harrison books I tried

100% this.

I like the man and he's a great public speaker. I do not get on with his novels at all, from In Viriconium to a few decades later when everyone loved Light so I gave his "SF" another try.

I read a good bit of Light, I had the sense that it was probably very clever but just not for me. Too gloomy.

I also began to suspect it was more magical realism than science fiction. Perhaps an incorrect diagnosis, but made me lose interest.

Same for me. Not sure about magical realism, but I also found it was not pushing my sci fi buttons. It felt like something else set in a sci fi world.

Can you list some of the recent good sci-fis please? I haven't read any new after Salvation series by P. Hamilton

Klara and the sun was really good, though I heard the movie not so good.

Also anything by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The one that stood out from him was the Void series and Alien Clay. Of course I'd you haven't read him do start with his main series as it was excellent too, but I'm pretty sure before 2020

Thank you!

> Of course I'd you haven't read him do start with his main series

Assuming you're talking Children of Whatever, eh, I'm not sure I agree. IMO some of his other novels are _far_ better (Children of Whatever are _good_, but some of the other stuff is _great_.)

Perhaps he means the Final Architecture series? Shards of Earth, Eyes of the Void, and Lords of Uncreation. That series is a true favorite of mine, but not everyone I've recommended it to liked it as much as I did. Elder Race and Dogs of War are also awesome entry points for people who enjoy S&S fantasy and military themes, respectively.

I’m in the middle of _Children of Strife_ right now and I’m not sure I’m going to finish it. Children of Time was great, Ruin was ok, Memory was saved by the ending, but Strife has up to this point been two female protagonists getting tortured and/or abused in various timelines, some of them possibly simulated. Not a great read.

Not sure what your definition is for 'recent' - but "The Expanse" is great IMO, I thoroughly enjoyed reading through the entire series. I've not read any of the "spin offs" from the main storyline though.

Also, "There is no anti-memetics division" is interesting but I'm divided about it. The first 60-70% is great, but after that it's kinda "meh" and by the time I finished the book I was glad it was over lol. The initial 2/3rds of the book are really good and almost makes up for the lackluster ending (imo).

I felt the same about "anti-memetics division"- the first half felt like a couple 'monster of the week" episodes of X-files, then suddenly the tone shifts and the world is doomed, but here's a deus ex machina that is totally justified because everyone forgot about it and here's the explanation how.

Yup indeed, I hesitate to write too much in the comment as I want to avoid spoilers, so I'll just leave it at saying it got a weirdly theistic spin at the end. It is a short book though so overall I'd probably recommend people give it a try at least. Worst case you DNF it after the first half :)

I've read The Expense, all of them and enjoyed the whole series.

The authors of the Expanse have another trilogy called The Captive's War which is pretty interesting. Only 2 of the 3 books are out so far, so I hesitate to recommend it, but I did enjoy those two (plus a novella).

Great! Will take a look

This is less recent, but Embassytown by China Miéville is excellent science fiction.

I'm going to assume you mean since 2020ish and include ongoing series that span that?

Martha Wells - Murderbot series (the AppleTV series is entertaining - but understandably drops some of the inner monologue. As usual read books first).

AnnaLinden Weller aka Arkady Martine "A Memory Called Empire" (first in series).

William Gibson - Jackpot trilogy: The Peripheral (2014), Agency (2020)

TV series is great (and cancelled) - books better...

Maybe too old:

"Lady Astronaut" series by Mary Robinette Kowal.

Kim Stanley Robinson "New York 2140".

On a side note I enjoyed Richard Morgan's "No Man's Land" - but it's alternative history fantasy - not sci-fi.

Might want to check science fiction awards+ database https://www.sfadb.com/

Don't sleep on Peter Watts. Blindsight is fantastic..

If you want a shorter taster, the novella The Freeze-Frame Revolution is also brilliant (and it has a handful of short stories that expand the universe, something Watts has done with several of his novels). Very, very dark stuff.

Watts is somewhat divisive, it should be said. Personally, I love his knife-edge prose and punk aesthetic, and I find his rather unvarnished perspective of humankind's place in universe refreshing.

He just published a collection of short stories last month, Fold Catastrophes, that I really enjoyed.

Also, if you like short sci fi stories, hard to beat anything by Ted Chiang.

Well if you liked that you should read Hamiltons latest duology. Red rising was a page turner for sure too.

As a general rule I usually find scifi books that win awards outside the genere but aren't recognized inside the genere to be pretty bad.

Counterpoint: Kazuo Ishiguro and Richard Powers are both extremely good.

Also, the stuff that has won awards inside the genre these past ~10 years has been generally quite poor.